You know how disappointed I was that Dave Mason's appearance in Madison was cancelled. I was quite pumped up for this show. . . Lucky for me, his show is still on in Milwaukee at the Northern Lights Theater - with John Mayall opening! Two legends - one is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the other one should be!!

Mason was a good friend of Jimi Hendrix, whose career was launched in England in 1967. Hendrix first heard the song "All Along the Watchtower", by Bob Dylan, at a party he was invited to by Mason, and promptly decided to record his own version. That night he recorded the song at Olympic Studios, South West London, with Mason playing acoustic guitar. It was released on the Electric Ladyland album in September 1968. Mason appears on the Rolling Stones' 1968 album Beggars Banquet, although uncredited. In 1969-1970, Mason toured with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends along with Eric Clapton and George Harrison. Mason appears on George Harrison's 1970 solo set All Things Must Pass. In 1970, Dave was slated to be the second guitarist for Derek and the Dominos, but left the group before they entered the studio.

I first saw Dave Mason perform in 1976 at the Field House on NIU’s campus. I was floored by his guitar playing, and will never forget the image of him wailing on that Gibson Firebird . He had a great band too; touring during that era with Jim Kreuger on guitar, keyboardist Mike Finnigan, bassist Gerald Johnson and drummer Rick Jaeger. Well I saw him every chance I could for the next several years – and even today he is one of a handful of artists that I’ve seen many times. In fact, I still have his albums Alone Together, It’s Like You Never Left, Dave Mason is Alive, and Split Coconut. . . in vinyl! I haven’t even had a turntable in 15 years; but I never gave up those albums! [Don’t worry, I’ll be addressing my turntable issue soon.]

I sort of lost interest in Dave’s more pop-oriented output during the early 80’s – and it seemed like he stopped coming around on tour - but I always held him in high regard. And the “Hall of Fame induction incident” only raised him higher in my opinion:

After Traffic’s induction, Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Paul Schaffer’s house band started playing “Dear Mr. Fantasy” – without Mason! What happened? According to Mason: " Well, Winwood said 'We’re going to play this song and we’re going to play it exactly like the record,' which I played bass on. And I said 'Wait a second…I’m 58 years old and I haven’t played bass since I was 19!' It wouldn’t be the same song, it wouldn’t have to be the same song. I mean, [Traffic] was a band that improvised and jammed!… OK, in my mind if [Winwood] wants to turn it into the Steve Winwood show, that’s fine, whatever…Frankly, I thought if we were going to do it, what would have been great is if Steve and I played lead guitar and got up there and just blazed away and had a little guitar battle. Made it fun! Then I said I’d play rhythm guitar, and they said that wasn’t gonna happen."

I saw Dave Mason again at 2006 Summerfest – and it was like reconnecting with a “Long Lost Friend.” I'm looking forward to doing it again on Friday. We've got a little crew going out. Let us know if you're interested in the road trip!

You can buy tickets online for this show [here]
- Mister Bill